Philosateleia
Kevin Blackston
PO Box 217
Floresville TX 78114-0217
United States of America

Philosateleian Blog

Bat’s Private Post reissues postal tax stamps on rose paper

Earlier this year, Bat’s Private Post in Beverly Hills, California, issued a set of six postal tax stamps on white paper in various denominations to raise funds for Yemeni Civil War relief efforts. On October 24, those stamps were reissued on rose paper.

The reissued stamps include the following values:

  • 10¢: Mother and child
  • 20¢: Dar al-Jahar (museum)
  • 50¢: Early Yemeni stamp
  • $1: Yemenis searching through rubble
  • $2: Military aircraft dropping bomb
  • 65¢ + $1: Yemeni Arabian Nights stamp (semipostal with postal tax included in price)
Bat’s Private Post Yemen Relief stamps
Bat’s Private Post Yemen Relief stamps

The 65¢ + $1 stamp is a denomination change, with the original issue being a 63¢ + $1 stamp. In addition, the text on the new stamp is in black instead of the red used on the original. Otherwise, there are no glaringly obvious differences except for the paper color.

According to a press release issued by Bat’s Private Post, all domestic mail carried by the private local post between September 15 and December 31 must bear one or more of the postal tax stamps, with letters facing a 10¢ charge in addition to normal postage, parcels a 20¢ charge, and freightsheets a $1 charge.

Flowers adorn American Parkinson Disease Foundation envelope

I was all but certain that I blogged about this business reply envelope last month, but after receiving another copy of it in the mail this week, I can’t find a previous post about it, so

This is an envelope distributed by the American Parkinson Disease Association in September and October 2022 fundraising mailings. The envelope features three stamp-sized images with simulated perforations, all of which depict flowers.

American Parkinson Disease Association business reply envelope with three preprinted stamp-sized images picturing flowers
American Parkinson Diseases Association business reply envelope with flower images

As I’ve mentioned before, this sort of BRE pales in comparison to the envelopes with actual labels attached to them that Boys Town distributed a while back, but it’s still colorful and worth a mention.

Purgatory Post honors Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II is the subject of the newest stamps from New Hampshire-based Purgatory Post. The longest-serving monarch in the history of the United Kingdom died earlier this year, and on October 12, Purgatory Post issued its memorial issue in her honor.

One of the stamps based on a portrait by Pietro Annigoni pictures a “young” queen, while the other uses an official photograph of Queen Elizabeth II taken during the later years of her life. Between the two stamps is a label picturing a rainbow that appeared over Windsor Castle shortly after the Queen’s death on September 8.

Pair of Purgatory Post 2-sola stamps picturing Queen Elizabeth II separated by label depicting rainbow over Windsor Castle
Purgatory Post 2-sola Queen Elizabeth II stamps and label

The new stamps comprise Purgatory Post’s 250th issue, a remarkable run for a modern private local post. Both stamps and the label feature black frames, traditionally used to indicate mourning.

Interestingly, Purgatory Post is not the first United States private local post to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II. Bat’s Private Post in Beverly Hills, California, issued a stamp picturing the late Queen on the same day she died.

Navigators business reply envelope goes patriotic with flags

I wrote in September about a business reply envelope from Navigators that had three preprinted stamp-sized images picturing a basket of apples. This month, the nonprofit distributed another envelope with three preprinted United States flags on it.

Navigators business reply envelope with three preprinted stamp-sized images picturing a United States flag
Navigators business reply envelope with US flag images

This is a very small BRE; if you were to write a check to send a donation to Navigators, you would have to fold the check in half to fit it into the envelope! It’s true that I’ve seen the occasional BRE that’s that short, but it’s still somewhat unusual, and particularly so with faux stamps.

Stamp album update adds pages for eight revenue categories

If you’ve been following along over the last couple of years as I’ve released pages for various United States revenue stamps in an effort to expand The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album, you may be interested in my latest update package: Special 2022 supplement #2.

This update adds pages for the following fiscal stamp categories:

  • Cigarette tubes
  • Potato tax
  • Tobacco sale tax
  • Boating
  • Trailer permit
  • Firearms transfer tax
  • Distilled spirits excise tax
  • Rectification tax

You can download and print the pages at your convenience.

One significant category that is still absent from The Philosateleian is beer stamps. I don’t know a good source of information about the sizes of each design in that category, and the stamps are pricey enough that tracking them all down personally isn’t an option. Do you know of a reference that provides this information?

In addition to the various fiscal stamps, this update contains pages for the Philosateleian Post stamps I’ve issued since 2004. If you happen to collect my local post stamps, you now have “official” pages on which to mount them.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 31
  31. 33
  32. 34
  33. 35
  34. 36
  35. 37
  36. 38
  37. 39
  38. 40
  39. 41
  40. 42
  41. 43
  42. 44
  43. 45
  44. 46
  45. 47
  46. 48
  47. 49
  48. 50
  49. 51
  50. 52
  51. 53
  52. 54
  53. 55
  54. 56
  55. 57
  56. 58
  57. 59
  58. 60
  59. 61
  60. 62
  61. 63
  62. 64
  63. 65
  64. 66
  65. 67
  66. 68
  67. 69
  68. 70
  69. 71
  70. 72
  71. 73
  72. 74
  73. 75
  74. 76
  75. 77
  76. 78
  77. 79
  78. 80
  79. 81
  80. 82
  81. 83
  82. 84
  83. 85
  84. 86
  85. 87
  86. 88
  87. 89
  88. 90
  89. 91
  90. 92
  91. 93
  92. 94
  93. 95
  94. 96
  95. 97
  96. 98
  97. 99
  98. 100
  99. 101
  100. 102
  101. 103
  102. 104
  103. 105
  104. 106
  105. 107
  106. 108
  107. 109
  108. 110
  109. 111
  110. 112
  111. 113
  112. 114
  113. 115
  114. 116
  115. 117
  116. 118
  117. 119
  118. 120
  119. 121
  120. 122
  121. 123
  122. 124
  123. 125
  124. 126
  125. 127
  126. 128
  127. 129
  128. 130
  129. 131
  130. 132
  131. 133
  132. 134
  133. 135
  134. 136
  135. 137
  136. 138
  137. 139
  138. 140
  139. 141
  140. 142